Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Indy Tub

The third generation of the Buckeye Bullet has the largest goals of any of the vehicles designed by OSU. However our number one goal has and continues to be driver safety. The safety of our driver Roger is second to none here at Buckeye Bullet. One of the exciting things that we have been working on for the new car is the possible inclusion of an Indy car tub. As the racing league moves to an all new body style for the 2012 season there are a number of previous generations that have become available. Over the past few weeks members of our team have been lucky enough to have some hands on time with one of these tubs.

The possible use of the tub marks one of the first active steps towards creating a safer race vehicle. Because the tub features a driver inclination that is larger than in the past it is also safer for the driver. Other major safety improvements are anticipated for the new vehicle including a more robust harness system, and the use of new high-density multi-impact foam around the driver. The Indy tubs represent a great opportunity for the sharing of knowledge between motor sports. We hope that this collaboration can be one of many for our team as we continue to build a safer and more advanced race car.

Don’t forget to check back next Saturday for more updates on the progress of the Buckeye Bullet 3.

Buckeye Bullet

The student run team is based out of the Center for Automotive Research at The Ohio State University. Currently the team is in the process of designing a brand new land speed vehicle. This new vehicle branded the Buckeye Bullet 3 is anticipated to be significantly faster than previous cars. In the summer of 2010, the team built a battery powered land speed streamliner (BB2.5), that broke the previous world record held by the Buckeye Bullet 1. Each of the vehicles are run on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.